Oregon Firefighters get no help from the weather

Oregon Firefighters get no help from the weather By JEFF BARNARD The Associated Press 8/13/02 3:25 AM

GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) -- Dry east winds, low humidity and temperatures topping 100 degrees are giving firefighters all they can handle as the massive Biscuit Fire creeps toward several small towns.

The fire, Oregon's largest in more than a century, stood at 376,800 acres on the Siskiyou National Forest and adjoining lands in southwestern Oregon and northern California. It started July 13 from lightning that struck in the remote Kalmiopsis Wilderness.

"This week is an important week for the fire," said Susan Mathison, a Forest Service spokeswoman. "High temperatures, single-digit humidities, strong east winds -- all those contribute to an expectation of increased fire activity."

Said David Widmark, a spokesman for the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center: "The next 24 to 36 hours will be a big test for the Biscuit and the Tiller fires."

Widmark said the Biscuit Fire was moving slowly toward the small communities of Agness and Wilderness Retreat.

Firefighters on Monday did manage to get a line around a spot fire that threatened a major power line serving northern California.

"I don't think we'll have any reason to turn the power off and cause any problems down in Crescent City (Calif.)," said U.S. Forest Service spokesman Mike Ferris.

The spot fire had slopped over the main containment line on the southeastern flank, coming within a half-mile of two transmission lines serving 14,800 customers in Del Norte County, Calif., said Monte Mendenhall, regional community manager of Pacific Power.

Meanwhile, on the northeast flank of the fire, strong dry winds forced crews to withdraw from trying to light off a burnout operation to strengthen containment lines between Bear Camp Road and Indigo Prairie, Ferris said.

The Biscuit Fire has prevented a search for a Grants Pass man who was last seen a month ago as he hiked into the Kalmiopsis Wilderness.

Two days after 32-year-old Michael Woods set out on a three-week backpacking trip, lightning sparked the 376,492-acre Biscuit Fire. The blaze has been burning since July 13 and covers an area nearly half the size of Rhode Island.

"With the fire activity, hopefully he was able to find some shelter -- a creek, river drainage, an abandoned mine," said Lt. Brian Anderson of the Josephine County Sheriff's Office.

Boy Scout officials say they consider the damage done by the fire as an opportunity to make improvements at McCaleb Ranch, a historic camp damaged two weeks ago.

The wildfire reached the ranch on July 26 and destroyed most of the camp's buildings. The fire, however, didn't touch a footbridge and low-water bridge that cross the Illinois River, so the scouts still have access to the site.

"I think we'll use this as a means to improve the facility," said Pat Fahey, Troop 23 Scoutmaster. "We've been wanting to do stuff for years. This might spur us to get something done."

Full containment for the southern flank in California was expected by Thursday. The whole fire was 25 percent contained.

"The fire isn't spreading that much," said Ferris. "It's creeping against the wind along the ridges and down the slopes, then running up the other side."

Meanwhile, a new fire erupted Sunday in eastern Oregon, about 17 miles northwest of Burns. Officials said the fire was caused by human activity.

"This one has potential. If we don't catch it today, it's going to be a biggie," Widmark said.

The new fire, named the Bald Green Butte fire, was burning near a Ponderosa pine forest and rugged terrain.

The latest from the Oregonian:

Hotter weather will feed wildfires/ 08/13/02

R. GREGORY NOKES and WENDY OWEN

Some of the summer's hottest temperatures in Oregon, combined with low humidity and a prediction of gusty east winds, increased the potential for a worsening of the state's already bad fire season.

"The next 24 hours will be pretty critical," David Widmark, a spokesman in the Northwest Interagency Coordinating Center in Portland, said late Monday. "Conditions are ripe for burning."

Temperatures reached 105 degrees in Agness on Monday, forcing fire crews to suspend plans to ignite a burnout to deprive the Biscuit fire of fuel.

Widmark said firefighters focused their greatest effort on the west and north sides of the 376,492-acre fire in Southwest Oregon, formerly known as the Florence fire. The fire burned slowly on the north toward Agness and on the west toward homes in the Wilderness Retreat community along the Chetco River, east of Brookings.

"It's definitely doing some creeping" toward those communities, Widmark said. However, it still hadn't reached a "trigger point" where officials would warn residents of Agness to evacuate their homes. Wilderness Retreat remained under a voluntary evacuation.

The Curry County sheriff's office issued a pre-evacuation notice for about five homes along the Pistol River. Flames had jumped a fire line and moved within several miles of the homes, about eight miles east of the coastal town of Pistol River between Gold Beach and Brookings.

Crews were back on the line Monday after being pulled out of the area Sunday evening as the flames came over Snow Camp ridge.

"When the fire starts getting squirrelly, we pull them out and let the fire die down," said Peter D'Aquanni, fire information officer.

Although not as active as last week, the fire near Wilderness Retreat, 13 miles east of Brookings, continued a slow march toward about 20 dwellings. Flames were spotted across the containment line during the weekend, and again Monday.

Firefighters and bulldozers fell back and worked to tie two roads together to create another fire line.

"We've been trying to catch it with a hand line but the hand line did not hold," said Mark Van Every, fire information officer. "Obviously, we're concerned about this spotting, but it's not a serious threat to Wilderness Retreat at this moment."

Then next 24 to 48 hours are very critical with the over 100 degree heat, low humidity and the easterly winds.

Remember the west side of the fire due to the coastal mountains does not really heat up until the afternoon sun hits the western slope. That will get critical shortly after noon until about 5 pm.

The fact that it got to 105 in Agness yesterday, shows that the north end of the fire still has the potential to creep forward.

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